Several neighbors on the 200 block of Manheim Street told Action News they were awakened sometime after 3 a.m. by what at first sounded to them like gunshots.
Officials said heavy fire was showing from the first floors of two twin homes when crews arrived.
Officer rescues four people
Jasmine Humaine said she had a life-or-death decision to make, how would she get out of the inferno that was fast engulfing the apartment building where she lived and the matching three-story twin next door.
"It was like OK, do i jump out this window or that one," Humaine said. "The front entrance was completely in flames."
Her family managed to escape without physical injury, but six people from the multi-house unit next door were taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, along with one firefighter.
1 injured in Germantown fire
Both twin homes were heavily damaged in the fire.
The Red Cross has been called to assist those displaced.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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